George Washington Kirchwey (July 3, 1855 – March 3, 1942) was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

lawyer, politician, journalist and legal scholar. He was one of the co-founders of the New York Peace Society in 1906 and the Warden of Sing Sing State Prison from 1915 to 1916. He was president of the

American Peace Society The American Peace Society is a pacifist group founded upon the initiative of William Ladd, in New York City, May 8, 1828. It was formed by the merging of many state and local societies, from New York, Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts, of ...

in 1917.

Life

He was born on July 3, 1855, in

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

. He graduated in law from

Yale College Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...

in 1879, was admitted to the bar in 1882, and practiced law at Albany, New York for ten years. He edited ''Historical Manuscripts, State of New York'' (1887–1989), was professor of law at Union College, and dean of the Albany Law School (1889–1891), professor of law at Columbia University (1891–1901), dean of Columbia Law School from 1901 to 1910 and was a pioneer in the introduction of the case method of studying law. He was a manager of the 1907-founded Comparative Law Bureau of the American Bar Association, whose ''Annual Bulletin (CLB), Annual Bulletin'' was the first comparative law journal in the U.S. He resigned as Kent Professor of Law from Columbia University in 1916. He ran on the Progressive Party (United States, 1912), Progressive and Independence League tickets for the New York Court of Appeals in 1912 New York state election, 1912, but lost to Democratic Party (United States), Democrat John W. Hogan. He became an associate editor of the ''American Journal of International Law'', president of the New York Society of Criminal Law and Sociology, and a commissioner on prison reform for the State of New York. He was Prison warden, Warden of Sing Sing, Sing Sing State Prison from 1915 to 1916. He served on various committees investigating prisons and in 1918–19 was director of the United States Employment Service for New York State. He was president of the American Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology in 1917. He died on March 3, 1942.

Legacy

He was one of the co-founders of the New York Peace Society in 1906, and president of the

in 1917. Kirchwey was married to Dora Child Wendell and had four children. His daughter Freda Kirchwey was a longtime editor of ''The Nation'' magazine.

Writings

* ''Historical Manuscripts of the State of New York'', editor (1887–89) * ''Readings in the Law of Real Property'' (1900) * ''Select Cases and other Authorities on the Law of Mortgage'' (1901)

Notes

References

* Kirchwey, George W. ''Foreword'' in Lief, Alfred (ed.) ''The Dissenting Opinions of Mr. Justice Holmes: Arranged, with Introductory Notes'' (New York: The Vanguard Press, 1929). * Kirchwey, George W. ''Readings in the Law of Real Property, an Elementary Collection of Authorities for Students'' (New York: Baker, Voorhis & Company, 1900). * Kirchwey, George W. ''Select Cases and Other Authorities on the Law of Mortgage''(New York: Baker, Voorhis & Company, 1902). * Kirchwey, George W. ''A Survey of the Workings of the Criminal Syndicalism Law of California'' (Los Angeles and San Francisco: California Committee, American Civil Liberties Union, 1926). * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kirchwey, George Washington 1855 births 1942 deaths American male journalists American legal writers Deans of Columbia Law School Writers from Detroit Yale College alumni Politicians from Albany, New York Wardens of Sing Sing Place of death missing New York (state) Progressives (1912) 20th-century American politicians United States Independence Party politicians Lawyers from Albany, New York